I’m sure you will remember that last year Newsweekreleased a “special edition” devoted to conspiracy theories about secret societies. Time magazine rushed out a competing special issue as well, based on content from an earlier Life magazine special edition on the same topic. Today at the grocery store I saw yet another entry in the series under the History Channel’s logo. The magazine rack proudly displayed a shelf of Secret Societies, a thick, glossy, magazine-style History Channel review of “modern conspiracies” and similar garbage. This publication is separate from History’s official magazine and carries only the network’s logo. P. T. Barnum once said no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public, but I think perhaps understates the case

Ultimately, the History Channel has made a devil’s bargain with fringe historians, and it is largely the network’s promotion of pseudohistory that has allowed these fringe figures to achieve a level of fame that they would not otherwise have seen. To that end, Nephilim hunter L. A. Marzulli had the protean fringe historian and frequent Ancient Aliens guest Brien Foerster on his YouTube talk show last week to promote his new book, Lost Ancient Technology of Peru & Bolivia. Foerster also appears in Marzulli’s Watchers DVD series.

Foerster argues that Peruvian cites like Sacsayhuaman could not have been built by the Inca, and he says that archaeologists refuse to “consult with stone masons” to learn why. Both he and Marzulli feel that because modern stone masons can’t conceive of putting in the work to make polygonal construction, it therefore cannot be the work of humans. (Interlocking cyclopean-style architecture withstands earthquakes better than straight layers and rectangular construction, which tends to just slide off.) As a point of fact, recent analysis has determined that the culture that preceded the Inca were responsible for Sacsayhuaman, but Foerster actually wants us to re-date the site to the Pleistocene because he doubts that the Peruvians of 500 years ago were able to cut stones into polygons. Why stone age people might have been better equipped to have done this work, he does not say except that he believes that they somehow developed a powerful civilization with tools and technology that the native Peruvians were unable to match.

The two men also believe that “highly polished surfaces” on many stone constructions in Peru are impossible to produce because they do not believe the Inca and their predecessors had access to any “technology” for polishing stone. Foerster adds that the “dynastic Egyptians” could not have built their pyramids because they did not have iron, and Baalbek’s trilithon stones could not have been laid by the Romans because they are too heavy. Foerster believes that construction of Baalbek began in the most ancient of times but was halted due to “something cataclysmic” (cough, Flood, cough) until the Romans reused the site. Marzulli adds that Genesis 11:3 supports this interpretation. In that passage, the people of Babel attempt to erect the Tower after the Flood: “They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.” Marzulli interprets this to mean that “they no longer had the technology” to work in stone, rather than the more obvious interpretation that the Jews writing this in 550 BCE or so duly noted that the people of Babylon built their monumental structures in mud brick rather than the more common stone construction of Egypt and the Palestinian coast.

Foerster claims that the granite columns of Baalbek were “turned on a lathe,” something only giants could do. (Not true: G. R. H. Wright describes the scholarly discussion of lathe use for Roman columns in the third volume of his 2009 book Ancient Building Technology.) The columns were imported by the Romans from the Aswan quarries in Egypt during the reign of Trajan. They are in thoroughly Roman style, representing the Corinthian order, a style that did not exist prior to about 450 BCE. The oldest surviving Corinthian capital dates to 427 BCE. That the columns were not impossible to transport should be obvious since Justinian took eight of them to Constantinople where they now stand in Hagia Sophia. And just to be clear: Most of the estimated 104 Aswan granite columns used in Baalbek were not single pieces of unbroken granite but were divided into much smaller drums (technically, the large drums used at Baalbek are frustra​), as was typical of Greek and Roman construction. While the drums were meant to fit together seamlessly, today their joints are clearly visible, and no special Nephilim technology is necessary to image how they were erected.

I am not sure if the specific columns from Baalbek depicted in the UNESCO image below are of Aswan granite, but they show the same use of frustra found in the Aswan granite columns:

“Archaeologists and anthropologists … just have blinders on,” Marzulli said of these pillars.

Foerster next states that the Gateway of the Sun at Tiwanaku could not have been built by humans because llamas could not move it and there were no other beasts of burden. The standard account, Marzulli says, is “nonsense.” Neither for a moment considers that, you know, humans might have moved them by working in large teams. Perhaps the fact that these fine gentlemen do no real work precludes them from imagining that others might work, and work hard, for a cause.

Foerster then says that Atlantis was real, but not in a literal sense. Instead, believes that Atlantis is a guide to a lost Ice Age civilization. “It’s hinting at a more profound history than most teachers tell us,” he said, joining Marzulli in condemning their schoolboy vision of Received History. This is ironic because Foerster seems to think that doing so frees him to imagine any history he wants, while Marzulli simply wishes to replace the “authority” of academics with the authority of the Bible as the One True History. There is room there to drive a wedge between the two, but Foerster doesn’t seem smart enough to know this. Both men are mutually using each other, Foerster to promote himself and his eclectic vision of fringe history that spans ancient astronauts, Atlantis, and the Nephilim, and Marzulli to pull History Channel viewers into his web of conservative Biblical fundamentalism.

Neither Marzulli nor Foerster have the knowledge or skills to do what ancient humans achieved, therefore, they are incapable of imagining *any* human could do it. It had to be the work of some "other".

And we should be listening to these jackasses over actual scientists, why again?

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DaveR

6/24/2016 11:33:51 am

It's the same story over and over with these guys. Only we know the truth. Mainstream academics are either lying and conspiring to withhold the truth, or are woefully ignorant of the facts.

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Ken

6/24/2016 11:50:26 am

What market is larger? The market for standard history books, or the one for "the real truth revealed here"?

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David Bradbury

6/24/2016 02:44:42 pm

In the UK, if the current Amazon chart is any guide, the former:
"The Silk Roads" at 45; "SPQR" at 77; "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" at 80- no fringe history stuff in the top 100.
All nowhere near as popular as cookery, of course.

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Time Machine

6/24/2016 04:47:32 pm

>>All nowhere near as popular as cookery<<

For other people's information, cookery programmes are shown about 5 times per day per channel in the UK.

Time Machine

6/24/2016 04:50:28 pm

I eat what I choose and am quite able to make my own recipes without the need of any guide.

Ken

6/24/2016 11:59:54 am

What to do, what to do? Watch AA reruns all day or watch my IRA go down the toilet? I think the former.

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hal

6/24/2016 12:24:04 pm

Not as boring as usual but in the scheme of things, totally unimportant.

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David Bradbury

6/24/2016 06:32:19 pm

If you want "important" you really shouldn't be reading a blog about fringe history. That's kind-of the point.

So spake the trolling Troll who trolls under the bridge. How's the trolling down there?

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Clete

6/25/2016 08:12:54 am

Haven't been here for awhile. But I have a question for "Hal". If this site is so boring, why do you keep returning? I mean, if I go to a store and it doesn't have what I want, I leave, usually never to return. Don't you have something, anything else to do? There are a lot of web sites, surely you could find one more to your interests, whatever they are.

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Bob Jase

6/24/2016 12:58:13 pm

Well you do have to question how stone-age peoples who worked mostly with stone for building and tools and weapons and decoration for hundreds of generations could ever have gotten any knowledge of how to work with stone. It couldn't have been from experience or practice or anything.

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Paul S.

6/24/2016 11:09:25 pm

It seems to be one of the basic tenets of fringe history that people before the industrial revolution were both unintelligent and incapable of learning from experience.

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lurkster

6/24/2016 01:21:09 pm

"Ultimately, the History Channel has made a devil’s bargain with fringe historians..."

Perhaps I'm hopelessly optimistic that this too will pass. But I have to admit - ever since @realScottWolter blocked me on Twitter for pointing out the upcoming Ozzy & Jack Osbourne travel show was deemed more appealing than renewing AU, I'm looking forward to seeing what they do with it. One of the "World Detour" teasers have mentioned the silly duo encountering a crazy conspiracy theorist at Stonehenge making wild King Arthur claims. If they air that episode and others in a way that mocks the cray cray and/or apes the nutters, I'm willing to cut History some slack and call it a small improvement. Not necessarily a change for the better, but definitely a step in the right direction.

Foerster claims he's going to finally reveal the DNA results from the Paracas skulls on the next installment of Marzulli's Watchers series. That will stick it to those snooty academics with their advanced degrees and peer reviewed journals!

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nomuse

6/25/2016 12:12:28 pm

Reminds me a of a meme around the Moon Hoax crowd. "I don't understand how they could cool the spacesuits/navigate the ship/detect a radio signal/whatever -- therefore the missions are fake."

Our response; "Correct; you don't understand how they could do it. Fortunately, the Apollo program was hiring actual engineers."

You know, Marzulli makes us Christians look stupid. And I'm glad you pointed out "Both men are mutually using each other, Foerster to promote himself and his eclectic vision of fringe history that spans ancient astronauts, Atlantis, and the Nephilim, and Marzulli to pull History Channel viewers into his web of conservative Biblical fundamentalism."

Why marzulli would work with Foerster is beyond me because not only is Foerster not a Christian, but seems to promote stuff that's anti biblical. Yeah, there's room for believers and non believers to work together, but the Foerster/Marzulli duo doesn't have the air of a healthy relationship, because as you say, they're using each other and not looking for the truth.

Keep.it up jason!

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Clint Knapp

6/26/2016 03:33:00 am

I actually took a look at that History magazine a couple weeks ago. I found it to be a fairly dry potted history of the societies highlighted by the fringe than an actual attempt at conspiracy mongering. There were a few nods here and there to the conspiracy theories, of course, but they're mostly presented without comment before moving on.

One thing that made me chuckle was the Templar entry's notable lack of anything Wolter-flavored. Another was that the magazine itself was merchandised sandwiched between a series of Apple-themed "for Seniors" mags and a shelf of coloring books.

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Harte

7/5/2016 09:48:59 am

"Perhaps the fact that these fine gentlemen do no real work precludes them from imagining that others might work, and work hard, for a cause."
Great line!

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I'm an author and editor who has published on a range of topics, including archaeology, science, and horror fiction. There's more about me in the About Jason tab.